Optical inspection method and optical inspection system

ABSTRACT

An optical semiconductor wafer inspection system and a method thereof are provided for classifying and inspecting defects such as scratches, voids and particles produced in a flattening process by a polishing or grinding technique used for semiconductor manufacturing. The present invention is an optical semiconductor wafer inspection system and a method thereof characterized by obliquely illuminating a scratch, void or particle produced on the surface of a polished or ground insulating film at substantially the same velocity of light, detecting scattered light at the time of oblique illumination from the surface of an inspection target at different angles and thereby classifying the scratch, void or particle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT

The present invention relates to an optical semiconductor waferinspection system and a method thereof for classifying and inspecting adefect such as scratch, void or particle as an example of extraneousmaterial produced in a flattening process with a polishing or grindingprocessing technique used during semiconductor manufacturing.

As a conventional technique for classifying and inspecting defect suchas scratch and particle on a semiconductor wafer, there is known atechnique described in JP-A-2006-201179. That is, the techniquedescribed therein combines a high-angle detection optical system andmiddle-angle detection optical system which condense and receivescattered light generated from locations illuminated by a right-overheadillumination system and oblique illumination system and convert thescattered light to a luminous intensity signal, thereby sets a pluralityof detection conditions and classifies defects on an inspection targetbased on a relationship between luminous intensity signals detectedunder the respective conditions.

Patent Document 1: JP-A-2006-201179

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, the above described conventional technique necessarily needs tobe switched between the right-overhead illumination system and obliqueillumination system as for the illumination system as the plurality ofdetection conditions and does not consider fixing the illuminationsystem to the oblique illumination system and switching between thehigh-angle detection optical system and middle-angle detection opticalsystem or between the high-angle detection optical system and low-angledetection optical system.

Therefore, the conventional technique does not consider carrying outprocesses by the high-angle detection optical system and low-angledetection optical system in parallel and increasing the inspection speedeither. Here, the “middle-angle” and “low-angle” do not mean absoluteangles but mean relative positions of angles lower than the position ofhigh-angle.

It is an object of the present invention to solve the above describedproblems and provide an optical inspection system and an opticalinspection method capable of speedily classifying defect such asscratch, void or particle which exists on the surface of an inspectiontarget such as a semiconductor wafer.

In order to attain the above described object, the present inventionprovides an optical inspection method for an optical inspection systemincluding a stage on which an inspection target is placed, an obliqueillumination system that obliquely illuminates a surface of theinspection target placed on the stage, a high-angle detection opticalsystem that directs light toward the surface at a high angle and detectshigh-angle scattered light generated from the inspection target withoblique illumination, and a low-angle detection optical system thatdirects light toward the surface at a low angle and detects low-anglescattered light generated from the inspection target with obliqueillumination, wherein luminous intensity detected by the high-angledetection optical system is compared with luminous intensity detected bythe low-angle detection optical system to classify a defect which existson the inspection target.

The present invention provides an optical inspection system including astage on which an inspection target is placed, an oblique illuminationsystem that obliquely illuminates a surface of the inspection target anda detection optical system that detects scattered light generated fromthe inspection target through illumination by the oblique illuminationsystem, wherein the detection optical system includes a high-angledetection optical system that directs light toward the surface at a highangle and a low-angle detection optical system that directs light towardthe surface at a low angle, and a judgment section that comparesluminous intensity detected by the high-angle detection optical systemwith luminous intensity detected by the low-angle detection opticalsystem and classifies a defect on the inspection target.

The present invention can speedily inspect defects.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent from the following description of the embodiments of theinvention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a configuration example of an inspection system according anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows examples of defects to be classified according theembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows examples of a defect classification method according theembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b show examples of an illumination optical system and adetection optical system according the embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is an example of a flowchart of classification according theembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is scatter diagram data of a luminous intensity ratio betweenparticles and voids explained in the embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is a relational expression between a reflection factor and anangle of incidence of light explained in the embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is a graph showing the reflection factor and angle of incidenceof light explained in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 shows a state of void scattered light explained in the embodimentof the present invention; and

FIG. 10 shows a state of particle scattered light explained in theembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of an optical semiconductor wafer inspection system and amethod thereof aimed at stable operation of a flattening process used ina semiconductor manufacturing process according to the present inventionwill be explained with reference now to the attached drawings.

As shown in FIG. 2, when forming an SiO2 film (processing target) 22 onan Si wafer 21 and applying CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing), thisembodiment classifies a scratch 23, void 24 and particle 25 generated ona wafer 10.

However, the Si substrate 21 does not always exist below the SiO2 film22, but a wiring layer may exist instead.

In the CMP process, polishing is performed to flatten the surface ofthis SiO2 film 22. Therefore, the scratch 23 which is a polishing scaris produced on the surface of the SiO2 film 22 as shown in FIG. 2.

Furthermore, the void 24 corresponds to a bubble (void) existing insidethe SiO2 film 22 that emerges when the surface is polished. The particle25 may be dust generated from within a semiconductor manufacturingsystem stuck to the surface of the SiO2 film 22.

For a stable operation of the flattening process in this way, it isimportant to quickly carry out a defect classification processsimultaneously with detection of defects, estimate the mechanism ofoccurrence of defects and take remedial actions.

Next, FIG. 1 shows an example of the optical semiconductor waferinspection system to implement the embodiment.

The optical semiconductor wafer inspection system includes a wafer 10which is an inspection target placed on a stage 15, position coordinatesof which are measured and traveling in the XY direction of which iscontrolled, a light source 2 made up of, for example, an Ar laser havinga wavelength of 488 nm and an oblique illumination optical system 1 madeup of a reflecting mirror 4.

Furthermore, the optical semiconductor wafer inspection system has ahigh-angle detection optical system 5 a and a low-angle detectionoptical system 5 b made up of condensing lenses 6 a, 6 b, photoelectrictransducers 7 a and 7 b made up of a photomultiplier, CCD camera, CCDsensor and TDI sensor or the like respectively and A/D converters 15 aand 15 b that convert analog luminous intensity signals outputted fromthe photoelectric transducers 7 a and 7 b to digital luminous intensitysignals.

The optical semiconductor wafer inspection system further has a stagecontroller 14 that controls the traveling of the stage 15 based on theposition coordinates measured from the stage 15, judgment sections 17 aand 17 b that detect defects in synchronization with the traveling ofthe stage 15 and calculates luminous intensity signals thereof, and anoverall control section 9 that controls the stage controller 14, furthercontrols the judgment sections 17 a and 17 b and receives inspectionresults obtained from the judgment sections 17 a and 17 b.

Examples of the judgment sections 17 a and 17 b include dedicateddigital signal circuits that can perform pipeline processing insynchronization with scan clocks of the photoelectric transducers 7 aand 7 b that perform scanning in synchronization with the traveling ofthe stage 15.

Instead of performing the above described synchronization processing asthe judgment sections 17 a and 17 b, there is also a method of storingthe outputs of the A/D converters 15 a and 15 b in a memory andperforming processing asynchronously, for example. In this case, theinspection speed is slower than the synchronous processing.

The illumination optical system and detection optical system will beexplained by quoting FIG. 4.

FIG. 4( a) is a plan view of the arrangement of the illumination opticalsystem and detection optical system seen from right above.

The low-angle detection optical system 5 b having a low angle is locatedat 180° with respect to the Y axis (minus direction: counterclockwisedirection). The oblique illumination optical system 1 can be changed inthree directions of 0°, 45° and 135° with respect to the Y axis.

In other words, the positional relationship between the low-angledetection optical system and oblique illumination system is arbitrarilyselectable within a range except 0° to 45° within the XY plane on thesurface.

FIG. 4( b) is a front view of the arrangement of the illuminationoptical system and detection optical system seen from right abeam.

The high-angle detection optical system 5 a is located at 90° withrespect to the XY plane. The low-angle detection optical system 5 b islocated at 12° with respect to the XY plane. The oblique illuminationoptical system 1 can be changed in three directions of 3°, 5° and 20°with respect to the X axis. YAG laser 355 nm can be used for theinclined illumination wavelength.

In other words, the oblique illumination system is arbitrarilyselectable within a range of angle of elevation of 3° to 20° withrespect to the XY plane (on the surface).

Furthermore, the low-angle detection optical system is kept to an angleof elevation of approximately 12° with respect to the XY plane (on thesurface).

Next, the detection procedure will be explained.

Oblique illumination light 12 is irradiated onto the CMP plane of aninsulating film 22 on the wafer 10 so as to prevent the obliqueillumination light 12 from being directly irradiated onto the surfacesof the condensing lenses 6 a and 6 b and prevent regularly reflectedlight of the oblique illumination light 12 from the wafer 10 from beingdirectly irradiated onto the surfaces of the condensing lenses 6 a and 6b.

While eliminating the regularly reflected light component generated fromthe insulating film 22, only the scattered light (low-order diffractedlight component) emitted from the scratch 23, void 24 or particle 25 asthe defect on the insulating film 22 is condensed by the condensinglenses 6 a and 6 b onto the light-receiving surfaces of thephotoelectric transducers 7 a and 7 b made up of a CCD, a TDI sensor orthe like. While moving the stage 15, the photoelectric transducers 7 aand 7 b such as a CCD and a TDI sensor are made to scan.

The outputs of the photoelectric transducers 7 a and 7 b areA/D-converted by the A/D converters 16 a and 16 b in synchronizationwith the scanning of the photoelectric transducers 7 a and 7 b such as aCCD and a TDI sensor.

The outputs of the A/D converters 16 a and 16 b are inputted to thejudgment sections 17 a and 17 b and the judgment sections 17 a and 17 bcalculate scattered light luminous intensity information and defectposition information from the scratch 23, void 24 or particle 25 as thedefect on the insulating film 22 in synchronization with the movement ofthe stage 15 and the scanning of the photoelectric transducers 7 a and 7b and record the information in the overall control section 9 as theinspection result.

As the method of judging a defect, the existence of a defect is judged,for example, when the luminous intensity level of the scattered lightfrom the insulating film 22 is a certain threshold or above.

Next, classification after the existence of a defect is judged will beexplained.

The principle of classification for implementing the above describedembodiment according to the present invention will be explained usingFIG. 3.

In the case of the scratch 33 which is a defect on the insulating film32, since this is a shallow concave defect, the luminous intensitysignal of the high-angle detection optical system 5 a is smaller thanthe low-angle detection optical system 5 b irrespective of the defectsize.

In the case of the void 34, since this is a deep concave defect,exposure at the edge of the hole seen from the direction of thelow-angle detection optical system 5 b is small and the luminousintensity signal of the high-angle detection optical system 5 a islarger than the low-angle detection optical system 5 b irrespective ofthe defect size.

In the case of the particle 25, since this is a high convex defect, theluminous intensity signal of the high-angle detection optical system 5 ais substantially the same as the luminous intensity signal of thelow-angle detection optical system 5 b irrespective of the defect size.

Therefore, it is possible to classify the scratch 33, void 34 andparticle 35 according to the following relationship.

[Case of Scratch 33]

Luminous intensity signal of high-angle detection optical system 5a<luminous intensity signal of low-angle detection optical system 5 b

[Case of Void 34]

Luminous intensity signal of high-angle detection optical system 5a>luminous intensity signal of low-angle detection optical system 5 b

[Case of Particle 35]

Luminous intensity signal of high-angle detection optical system 5a≦luminous intensity signal of low-angle detection optical system 5 b

As shown above, when the luminous intensity signal of a defect is small,it is not possible to judge whether the defect is the small-sizedparticle 35 or large-sized scratch 33 using only one detection opticalsystem, whereas it is possible to classify the defect by observingrelative intensities of the luminous intensity signal of the high-angledetection optical system 5 a and the luminous intensity signal of thelow-angle detection optical system 5 b.

In the example above, the classification of the scratch 33, void 34 andparticle 35 on a semiconductor wafer has been explained, but it is alsopossible to classify a scratch or particle produced on, for example, ahard disk in a manufacturing process of the hard disk.

The above described classification will be explained by quoting theflowchart shown in FIG. 5.

The process starts in step 501 and a stage scan starts (step 502).Signals condensed by the high-angle detection optical system andlow-angle detection optical system are A/D-converted (step 503). In step504, defects are detected from the A/D-converted signals by the defectjudgment section and their luminous intensity levels are calculated. Ina comparison between the luminous intensity of high-angle detection andthe luminous intensity of low-angle detection calculated (step 505), ifthe luminous intensity of high-angle detection<luminous intensity oflow-angle detection, the defect is judged to be a scratch (step 506).

On the contrary, in the comparison between the luminous intensity ofhigh-angle detection and the luminous intensity of low-angle detectioncalculated (step 507), if the luminous intensity of high-angledetection>luminous intensity of low-angle detection, the defect isjudged to be a void (step 508).

On the other hand, in the comparison between the luminous intensity ofhigh-angle detection and the luminous intensity of low-angle detectioncalculated (step 509), if the luminous intensity of high-angledetection≦luminous intensity of low-angle detection, the defect isjudged to be a particle (step 510).

The above described judgment is repeated until all defects detectedduring stage scanning are judged. (step 511)

When repeated stage scanning on the entire area to be inspected on thewafer is completed (step 512), the process ends (step 513). Since theabove described judgment is made in synchronization with stage scanning,the inspection process is speedily carried out.

Furthermore, since detection processes of the high-angle detectionoptical system and the low-angle detection optical system are carriedout in parallel, this contributes to speed enhancement of theinspection.

The above described classification will be explained in further detailby quoting FIGS. 6 to 10.

FIG. 6 shows scatter diagram data of a luminous intensity ratio betweenparticles and voids. This is a data example where the particle 35 andvoid 34 are actually classified.

The relative intensities of the luminous intensity signal of thehigh-angle detection optical system 5 a and the luminous intensitysignal of the low-angle detection optical system 5 b are defined as theluminous intensity signal of the low-angle detection optical system 5b÷luminous intensity signal of the high-angle detection optical system 5a=luminous intensity ratio.

Assuming the threshold is 0.6 in the scatter diagram of the luminousintensity ratio, it is apparent that a defect equal to or greater thanthe threshold can be classified as the particle 35, a defect equal to orless than the threshold can be classified as the void 34. This thresholdvaries depending on the gain of each photoelectric transducer 7 a, 7 b,but the ability to classify defects based on a certain threshold isinvariable irrespective of the size of the particle or void.

This principle will be explained using FIGS. 7 to 10.

FIG. 7 shows a general relational expression between a reflection factorand an angle of incidence of light on a certain plane. Here, P-wave (Rp)and S-wave (Rs) mean that an electric field vector of light is paralleland perpendicular to the plane of incidence respectively. FIG. 8 shows agraph of the reflection factor on an interface with n=1.7 between matterand air as an example. This graph is equal to a relationship when thenumerical value (Expression 1) in the relational expression of FIG. 7 isassumed.(nI=1.0, nII=1.7)  [Expression 1]

The shape of the graph generally varies depending on the refractiveindex of matter or the like, but the reflection factor increases as theangle of incidence of light approximates to parallel to the plane. Whenthere is no polarization of the electric field vector of the incidentlight, the reflection factor of light becomes Rp+Rs of the graph.Furthermore, in FIG. 8, the angle perpendicular to the plane is assumedto be 0° and the angle parallel to the plane is assumed to be 90°. Ifthis is applied to FIG. 4,

(Scattering direction of high-angle detection optical system 5 a in 90°direction . . . 0° direction in FIG. 8)

(Scattering direction of low-angle detection optical system 5 b in 12°direction . . . 78° direction in FIG. 8)

The reflection factor “Rp+Rs” in FIG. 8 becomes approximately 0.07 at0°. Furthermore, the reflection factor becomes 0.35 at 78°. Thereflection factor increases approximately five-fold. There is also anapproximately five-fold difference between the particle distributioncenter in FIG. 6 and void distribution center.

This principle will be explained when applied to the state where thescatter diagram data of the luminous intensity ratio in FIG. 6 isacquired.

Like the state of the void scattered light shown in FIG. 9, there arenot many blocking planes in the scattering direction of the high-angledetection optical system 5 a in the 90° direction shown in FIG. 4. Thisdirection corresponds to the 0° direction shown in FIG. 8.

On the contrary, there is an interface in the scattering direction ofthe low-angle detection optical system 5 b in the 12° direction shown inFIG. 4, where there is a situation in which scattered light issignificantly reflected, hardly reaching the low-angle detection opticalsystem 5 b. This direction becomes the 78° direction shown in FIG. 8. Inthis way, the luminous intensity ratio shown in FIG. 6 is assumed todecrease in the case of the void.

On the other hand, in the state of the particle scattered light shown inFIG. 10, there is nothing that blocks in the scattering detection of thehigh-angle detection optical system 5 a in the 900 direction or in thescattering detection of the low-angle detection optical system 5 b inthe 12° direction. This causes the luminous intensity ratio shown inFIG. 6 to increase in the case of the particle.

As described above, it is appreciated that keeping the angle of thelow-angle detection optical system 5 b to approximately 12° or belowmakes it possible to classify the particle and void.

It should be further understood by those skilled in the art thatalthough the foregoing description has been made on embodiments of theinvention, the invention is not limited thereto and various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention and the scope of the appended claims.

1. An optical inspecting method comprising steps of: holding an objectto be inspected on a stage; illuminating obliquely a surface of theobject on the stage with an oblique illumination system; detecting aluminous intensity of scattered light of high-angle generated by theobject illuminated obliquely, using a high-angle detection systemorientated to have a high-angle with respect to the surface; detecting aluminous intensity of scattered light of low-angle generated by theobject illuminated obliquely, using a low-angle detection systemorientated to have a low-angle with respect to the surface; andclassifying a defect on the object according to a difference between theluminous intensity detected by the high-angle detection system and theluminous intensity detected by the low-angle detection system, wherein:the defect is classified to be a void when the luminous intensitydetected by the high-angle detection system is greater than the luminousintensity detected by the low-angle detection system, the defect isclassified to be a scratch when the luminous intensity detected by thelow-angle detection system is greater than the luminous intensitydetected by the high-angle detection system, and the defect isclassified to be a particle when the difference between the luminousintensity detected by the low-angle detection system and the luminousintensity detected by the high-angle detection system is not more than apredetermined value.
 2. The optical inspecting method according to claim1, further comprising the step of: synchronizing with each other: ascanning of the oblique illumination with the oblique illuminationsystem, the detection of the luminous intensity with the high-angledetection system, the detection of the luminous intensity with thelow-angle detection system, and the classification of the defect.
 3. Anapparatus for inspecting an object: a stage for holding thereon theobject to be inspected; an oblique illumination system for illuminatingobliquely a surface of the object on the stage; an optical detectionsystem for detecting a scattered light generated by the objectilluminated by the oblique illumination system, the optical detectionsystem including a high-angle detection system orientated to have ahigh-angle with respect to the surface to detect a luminous intensity ofthe scattered light of high-angle generated by the object illuminatedobliquely, and a low-angle detection system orientated to have alow-angle with respect to the surface to detect a luminous intensity ofthe scattered light of low-angle generated by the object illuminatedobliquely; and a detecting device for classifying a defect on the objectaccording to a difference between the luminous intensity detected by thehigh-angle detection system and the luminous intensity detected by thelow-angle detection system, wherein: the defect is classified to be avoid when the luminous intensity detected by the high-angle detectionsystem is greater than the luminous intensity detected by the low-angledetection system, the defect is classified to be a scratch when theluminous intensity detected by the low-angle detection system is greaterthan the luminous intensity detected by the high-angle detection system,and the defect is classified to be a particle when the differencebetween the luminous intensity detected by the low-angle detectionsystem and the luminous intensity detected by the high-angle detectionsystem is not more than a predetermined value.
 4. The apparatusaccording to claim 3, wherein the high-angle detection system isarranged directly above the surface, and the low-angle detection systemand the oblique illumination system are arranged within an angular rangeother than 0-45 degrees on an imaginary plane including X and Y axes ofcoordinates on the surface.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 4,wherein the oblique illumination system is arranged within an elevationangle range of 3-20 degrees with respect to the surface.
 6. Theapparatus according to claim 5, wherein the oblique illumination systemis arranged to have an elevation angle of about 12 degrees with respectto the surface.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein theoblique illumination system is arranged to have an elevation angle notmore than 12 degrees with respect to the surface.
 8. The apparatusaccording to claim 3, wherein a scanning of the oblique illuminationsystem, the detection of the high-angle detection system, the detectionof the low-angle detection system and the classification of thedetecting device are synchronized with each other.